If this is Tuesday, it must be England #83

The Duchess of Cambridge, Duchess of Cornwall, and Countess of Wessex watch the Remembrance Sunday proceedings from a balcony in 2016

Remembrance Sunday, which falls on 12 November in 2017, is a day for the nation to remember and honour those who have sacrificed themselves to secure and protect our freedom.

For the 65 years of her reign, with only a handful of exceptions, the Queen has led the nation in its Remembrance Sunday commemorations, laying a wreath at the Cenotaph with the Duke of Edinburgh supporting her.  This November, for the first time, the Queen and Duke will instead choose to watch proceedings from a balcony, as the Prince of Wales steps in to represent his mother.  The Queen asked the Prince to take her place for the key moment of ceremony, in a significant and very visible change to the traditional wreath-laying.  Now 91, the Queen will instead join her 96-year-old husband on the balcony of the nearby Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as the Duke breaks his retirement to honour veterans and the fallen.

It is the first time the Prince will lay the wreath at the Cenotaph watched by his mother.  He has undertaken the role once before, in 1983, while the Queen was undertaking an overseas tour in Kenya.  It is only the sixth time the Queen has missed laying the wreath herself, including a 1961 trip to Ghana, a 1968 visit to Brazil, and in 1999 when she was in South Africa.  The Duke of Edinburgh has represented her on two occasions, in 1959 and 1963 when she was expecting her two youngest children, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

On November 12 this year, she and the Duke will appear together on the balcony generally occupied during the service by other members of the Royal Family including the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duchess of Cambridge.  An aide said the Duke was determined to attend the ceremony and wished to be with his family while the Queen chose to be alongside her husband.

The couple will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on November 20. 

"The Queen wishes to be alongside the Duke of Edinburgh and he will be in the balcony," a source added.

The moment of the wreath laying will be hugely significant for admirers of the Royal Family, as the Queen chooses to pass over the key symbolic moment to her son and heir.  Last year, she reportedly used a lighter wreath than usual to place at the Cenotaph, in a rare concession to her age.  In 2015, it was claimed that the traditional service was shortened in order to decrease the amount of time the Queen and the Duke had to stand out in the cold weather, and in a sign of respect to the elderly veterans taking part in the parade.

Source:  www.telegraph.co.uk